BRAKING NEWS
Rainey rides again, Dakar, Ariel, electric Ducati 1299 Panigale…
Rainey rides again
The last time Wayne Rainey rode a bike was on lap ten at the Misano GP in 1993. He was leading the race and the 500cc world championship, and had won the previous three world titles – a rider at his peak. Then he crashed, tumbled with his bike, and lay in the gravel with a broken back, paralysed from the chest down.
Rainey has done many extraordinary things in the 26 years since that day – raced karts, managed the Marlboro Yamaha team, and rejuvenated America’s domestic race series. But he’s never ridden a bike again. Until now.
In November, Rainey tested a specially adapted Yamaha R1 at the Buttonwillow Raceway in America, then rode the same bike with fellow former world champs
Kenny Roberts and Eddie Lawson a week later at an event at Suzuka, Japan.
As big days go, it’s hard to imagine a bigger one than that irst ride. ‘That was a lot of fun,’ he said afterwards with a grin any motorcyclist would recognise. ‘When I irst left the pit I was wobbling about and I thought, “I’ve got to get on the throttle here,” and that felt good. The irst couple of laps felt so strange but when I went out again for the next session, it felt much better. Twenty six years is a long time, and jumping on an R1… it made me feel young again.’
There were no photos taken at the Buttonwillow test, but there is a video. If you’re a race fan of a certain age and want your heartstrings pulled, type ‘Rainey rides again’ into Youtube.